Fred VanVleet on Kawhi Leonard's Impact in Toronto

Fred VanVleet has seen Kawhi Leonard change a franchise before. He sounds convinced Toronto is about to feel that shockwave again.

The former Raptors guard, now with the Houston Rockets, didn’t bother dressing it up when asked about Leonard’s return during Kyle Lowry’s block party. He went straight to the point.

“I mean, listen, they didn’t get worse,” VanVleet said. “It didn’t get worse.

“I’m excited for the city. I’m excited for the organization. It’s good to see [Kawhi Leonard] back and yeah, they’ll be a damn good team, especially in the East. They’re going to be a tough out.”

For a fan base that watched Leonard arrive, conquer, and leave in the space of one historic year, those words land with weight. VanVleet lived every second of that 2019 title run. He knows exactly what a locked-in Kawhi does to a locker room, to a game plan, to an entire conference.

A Blockbuster Return, Five Years Later

Toronto paid a heavy price to bring Leonard back north of the border. The Raptors sent Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 pick swap, and two future second-rounders to the Los Angeles Clippers to reunite with the two-time Finals MVP.

This is not the same Raptors team Leonard once dragged to the summit. It’s younger, rawer, built around Scottie Barnes as the rising cornerstone. Leonard, now 35, walks into a retooled roster that needs a star who knows the way up the mountain.

VanVleet clearly believes that version of Leonard still exists.

“They’ll be a damn good team,” he repeated. “Especially in the East.”

He’s not handing out compliments for nostalgia’s sake. Leonard and VanVleet share a title, a parade, and a bond forged in a playoff run that rewrote careers. VanVleet has often credited that season for changing his life and helping him secure major contracts. Leonard’s “business-like” march through the 2019 postseason set the standard.

‘I Don’t Want to Be Here’ – And Then a Championship

What makes VanVleet’s respect even sharper is how candid he’s been about Leonard’s mindset during that first stint in Toronto.

On the “Hello and Welcome” podcast, VanVleet recalled that Leonard never pretended he was in it for the long haul.

“He said it from day one, I’m not staying here,” VanVleet said. “So, from day one, he said, ‘I don’t know why they traded for me. I don’t want to be here. I’m not staying here.’ Now, Toronto put their best bid in, man.

“The city bowed down as we’ve never seen before, man. And so yes, as for us regular people, we can look at it and say, man, how could you leave that? But his mind was made up, man. Kawhi is Kawhi.”

That’s the paradox Raptors fans have wrestled with ever since. Leonard never promised them anything beyond the season. He gave them everything anyway.

A player who didn’t want to be there led them to their first-ever NBA championship. Then he walked.

Now he’s back, this time by choice.

The Self-Belief of a Two-Time Finals MVP

VanVleet didn’t just talk about Leonard’s professionalism. He highlighted the quiet, almost startling self-belief that powered that run.

“Kawhi [Leonard] changed my view on a lot of shi*t,” VanVleet said, before recalling one moment in particular that stuck with him. He overheard a conversation after the championship, and while he refused to name names, the message stayed burned in his mind.

“The sentiment of the conversation was when we won the championship about all that sh*t is like, ‘I’m better than Kobe.’”

VanVleet admitted he reacted the way many would. Kobe Bryant was his basketball idol.

“Right? I had the same reaction because Kobe is my man. Kobe, that’s it for me. That’s as good as it gets for me as a little kid up into a man, my eyes, what I seen.”

The numbers and accolades don’t put Leonard on Kobe’s tier historically, but they do explain why someone in that room could even entertain the comparison. Two NBA championships. Two Finals MVPs. Titles with two different franchises. A playoff run in 2019 that felt, at times, like a one-man siege.

Those memories are why VanVleet doesn’t hesitate when he looks at the new Raptors with the old superstar.

Toronto has pushed all its chips back into the middle of the table for a second Kawhi era. VanVleet, watching from afar, sounds certain of one thing: if Leonard is healthy and engaged, the Raptors won’t just be sentimental favorites.

They’ll be dangerous.